Let’s Not Support More Addiction

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Thanks to the banning of cigarettes in public places, fewer US teens smoke cigarettes, which is safer for all of us. Now that we don’t have as much second-hand tobacco smoke, why should we put up with second-hand marijuana smoke? It’s probably because we’re bamboozled by propagandists who worship pot as if it’s a god, and evangelize as if it’s a religion.

Let’s Not Support Another Addictive Substance

Let’s not add one more addictive, dangerous substance to the drugs that are already legal. We have many legal addictive substances — alcohol, tobacco, Ambien, Xanax, Percocet, OxyContin, Vicodin, Adderall. More options only add to addiction rather than substitute for other choices. The majority of teens who are in substance abuse treatment use marijuana more frequently than alcohol, other drugs and addictive substances.

Addiction counselors know that any kind of addictive substance spawns more addiction. For some, it is a gateway drug. The marijuana lobby has long denied that marijuana is addictive, despite what individuals who have been in treatment for it claim.

The marijuana lobby repeatedly claims marijuana never killed anyone, but a Colorado man recently killed his wife after becoming psychotic from marijuana candy and a 19-year old exchange student jumped 4 floors to his death in March, 2014, after eating a marijuana cookie.

One of the most horrific car accidents in recent history killed 8 people, including 5 children, on New York’s Taconic State Parkway in 2009, when a woman drove recklessly with high levels of marijuana in her system. The driver regularly smoked pot to help with sleeping problems, although the toxicology tests showed recent usage and the accident happened early in the day. Its potentially lethal for drivers of any age to be stoned, and not appropriate to suggest pot as alternative to alcohol for drivers.

The promotion of pot as making people calm and non-violent fails to explain how Johar Tsarnaev — described by classmates as a heavy pot smoker — became the Boston bomber. The boy was 19 and had been toking awhile; we need to realize early usage can come with a high cost to the individual and society.

Drug testing began in the United States after 16 people died in a train accident back in 1987. The horrific event occurred because a train engineer and the brakeman, who could have backed him up, had been smoking pot — according to their own admissions. How far will we let the marijuana businesses promote themselves before new tragedies happen?

The constant validation of pot covers up the fact that mass killers James Holmes and Jared Loughner were known to have indulged heavily in marijuana, beginning at young ages. Studies from diverse countries such as New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands suggest that psychotic states and mental deterioration can be triggered or enhanced by using it.

Marijuana is the cause of over 450,000 emergency hospitalizations each year in the US–for paranoia, psychosis and/or marijuana poisonings. The most recent report is for 2012, although numbers have been climbing, and there’s a growing trend of using synthetic marijuana. Pot promoters — who would like to turn it into a big business — suggest that users want to substitute it for alcohol, but the medical evidence is that users combine pot with other drugs and alcohol.

Smoked marijuana is held in the lungs much longer than cigarettes. Yet advocates rationalize that it has no adverse effects on the heart or lungs, despite the recent research. Instead of adding to this country’s drug use and abuse, Parents Opposed to Pot suggests:

*We need to warn that both alcohol and marijuana are dangerous, in terms of addiction, abuse and driving, and to warn against all about the many addictive substances available.

*We need to protect children from risk-taking behaviors.

*We need to teach self-discipline and self-control, and not assume that everyone needs a crutch.

It’s realistic to think all teens will push limits, do risky things while trying to have fun. But it’s our job to protect them and not encourage the conditions that will foster addiction and dangerous, mind-altering substances.

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9 thoughts on “Let’s Not Support More Addiction”

Alcohol kills more people on the highway than marijuana and is worse for the brain and is highly addictive and ruins thousands of lives every day. Young people abuse it notoriously and openly and society just says, that’s what young people do. To be credible, you should at least as vocal about prohibiting it as you are marijuana. While I understand your main focus is on stopping the additional adverse effects of another legal drug, some acknowledgement of the need to eradicate alcohol is necessary for your arguements to seem unbiased. To be credible, you should at least regularly add that it needs to go also. Ending the tragedies caused by alcohol would be heroic.

Students are regularly given demonstrations of the dangers of driving and drinking. They are not told of the dangers of stoned driving. Currently 65% of the adult population drinks alcohol, including those who do it once a month or hardly ever. Ten-14% of the population uses cannabis, yet in states that have legalized there deaths featuring drivers on cannabis are nearly equal to # of deaths caused by alcohol.

Quote:
“Marijuana Emergency Room Visits Strongly on the Increase
Emergency Room
Proponents of the liberalization of laws related to marijuana are fond of describing how harmless marijuana is. In fact, the use of marijuana is associated with hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits each year. According to the Drug Awareness Warning Network (DAWN) from a report issued on February 22, 2013, there were 455,668 ER visits related to use of marijuana in the past year The only illicit drug that had a higher number of visits was cocaine, with just over half a million. Among people aged 12 to 24, marijuana was by far the top drug sending people to Emergency Rooms.

Adverse effects sending people to ERs include anxiety, confusion, panic attacks and hallucinations. In the last several years, doctors have also become aware that heavy and chronic use of marijuana can result in what they are calling “cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome.” In other words, heavy use of marijuana can result in uncontrollable, repetitive vomiting and agonizing stomach pain that does not respond to any treatment. Only partial temporary relief is found in a very hot shower or bath. The only cure is stopping the use of marijuana. So much for the claim that marijuana is harmless….”

I imagine 2016 was different, but even the year 2009 substantiates the visits for emergency hospitalization for marijuana are indeed in the hundreds of thousands per year. (Frankly though, I myself am amazed at these numbers.)

To quote: “Illicit Drugs

…….In 2009, almost one million visits involved an illicit drug, either alone or in combination with other types of drugs. DAWN estimates that—

cocaine was involved in 422,896 ED visits
marijuana was involved in 376,467 ED visits
heroin was involved in 213,118 ED visits
stimulants, including amphetamines and methamphetamine, were involved in 93,562 ED visits
other illicit drugs—such as PCP, ecstasy, and GHB—were involved much less frequently than any of the drug types mentioned above.
The rates of ED visits involving cocaine, marijuana, and heroin were higher for males than for females. Rates for cocaine were highest among individuals aged 35–44, rates for heroin were highest among individuals aged 21–24, stimulant use was highest among those 25–29, and marijuana use was highest for those aged 18–20…..”

Yes it was in the 2011 report issued by the DEA not to reschedule marijuana. You can look it up online. It was something like 444,000 in the most recent year. Considering that 5 years have passed and states have legalized, we would imagine the number is quite a bit higher. The amazing thing is that these were not even addiction treatments. Some involved accidents. Ohters psychosis. Sometimes it was mixed with other drugs.

This entire website is a bunch of opinions not facts. You are full of shit. I am all for keeping kids off drugs but giving out misinformation by the shovel full is not the way to do it. Anyone reading this website should take it with several grains of salt.

Excellent website…..accurate information and real, valid concerns that we should be discussing. As a grandmother, I applaud this site and will wholeheartedly keep this as a favorite. I hope that my grandkids are smart enough to stay away from this, and other, potential addictions.

Hey Chili, i challenge you to read my story which is posted elsewhere on this website [http://www.poppot.org/2018/08/06/my-story-of-why-i-hate-cannabis/] & then come back here and tell me which part about it is fiction or as you put it “misinformation by the shovel full”.